The Ignored Conquerors of our World: Trees and Insects!

by Santosh Rajus – What are the first few things you see when you walk through the woods or any open field? I am sure it will be either a tree or an insect. We know trees play a very important role, but what about the insects? On speaking with a few people, including kids, I found that most of them consider insects to be pests. A few also believed that insects are out to kill them. Insects have also been fighting continuously in this changing environment, and I am sure you would have noticed them disappear in your backyard. Insects are not out there to just destroy our crops and plants; they are playing an important role in keeping the ecosystems under control, from helping with decaying waste to pollination. In fact, insects are so abundant that they are almost equal to all other living forms in the world combined.

Today, we have changed the ecosystem, and insects have no where else to go apart from crops or garden plants that we have. A recent study has showed a 75% decline in flying insects over the duration of 27 years in Germany (read more). I looked at life on a coffee plant and found 26 different species of insects – prey, predators, pollinators and farmers, in a world of their own. Also, scientists have found over 6000 species of insects in just 1 acre of rainforest tree canopy (read more). Before destroying a plant or a tree, we must realize that we are destroying the world for a group of tiny insects. Look at their eyes, they are afraid and want to hide from us.

I’m sure we have all used pesticides to kill the insects which destroys crop, but it still has effects on all insects. It is simple: we kill insects, the birds move away, there are no pollinators for your trees/crops and we are on a path towards destroying our ecosystem slowly.

Trees and insects have conquered the earth and play an extremely important role in sustaining our ecosystem. Let’s not kill them and destroy our ecosystem. The change begins with us!